Off To St Marie!
by newraven
Summary: Azuma Kazuma, Suwabara Kai, Kawachi Kyousuke, and Kanmuri Shigeru go to St. Marie to learn more about baking sweets. They are each paired with a "mentor", which is one of the four people of A group. However, when they get there personalities clash, worlds collide, and an unexpected phone call changes their priority. Rated K plus for fun.
1. What St Marie?

I DO NOT own Yumeiro Patissiere or Yakitate Japan.

"I heard the news! When are you leaving? Am I in time?" Tsukino was dressed in her high school uniform when she barged through the door, breathing heavily. After spotting Azuma and Kanmuri, she was relieved and said, "Oh, good. I made it." Even though she has become the president of Pantasia, Tsukino still went to school

"What news? Leave to where?" Azuma was really confused.

"Eh?You haven't heard? Manager, you didn't tell them yet?" Tsukino asked a stream of questions.

"I was planning to tell them when you came,"Manager replied.

"Tell us what? Will one of you actually tell us already?" Kanmuri practically yelled.

Manager shrugged. "We decided to send you to St. Marie."

Azuma tilted his head in a questioning way. "Saint…Mary? Oh, you want us to go to a catholic church, right?"

Kanmuri shaked his head. "I think he means St. Marie Academy. You know, the prestigious patisserie-training academy. Actually, I take that back. You probably don't know."

Tsukino was impatient and ushered Manager to go on. Manager obliged and explained," Well, we thought that maybe you guys should learn more about sweets. We can add some more pastry elements to the shop, especially since sweets are very popular with the girls right now."

Kanmuri looked unsatisfied but didn't say anything. On the other hand, Azuma was full with excitement. "I love sweets! Woo Hoo!"

Just at that moment, Kawachi barged through the door and shouted with an irritated expression, "You better explain yourself."

Suwabara followed him and said, "For once, I agree with baldy."

Kawachi turned to face him. "Who ya calling baldy? I have hair now! Not a wig!"

Suwabara pushed the fuming Kawachi to aside, "What do you need us for exactly?"

Tsukino replied," Well, you, Kawachi, Azuma, and Kanmuri are going to St. Marie Academy to study how to bake sweets."

Suwabara snorted, "Why would I have to go there? I have Monica to teach me."

Manager ignored him. "Anyway, you're going to be training under the students there over the winter break. You'll stay there for five days and try to come up with a sweet, or multiple sweets, that you would find suitable for the shop. You should be back the day before Christmas Eve. I will now pair you up with your mentors. I hope you can learn from each other. You would be learning techniques from all of them, but your mentor would guide you through most of your time there. Suwabara, your mentor is the Hanabusa Satsuki. He specializes in candy art. Kawachi, you mentor is Kashino Makoto. He specializes in chocolate. Kanmuri, your mentor is Andou Sennosuke. He specializes in traditional Japanese food. And finally, Azuma, your mentor is Amano Ichigo. She specializes in strawberry tarts, but during your time with her, she'll be your creative mentor and teach you whatever you request. If you have any questions, ask your guide when you get there."

Kanmuri asked, "When are we leaving?"

Manager checked his watch. "I'd say in about two hours. So you better get ready fast, we'll be leaving the store in one hour, in order to get to the train station."

They all exclaimed, "ONE HOUR?"

Meanwhile in St Marie…

"Sounds fun!" Ichigo exclaimed after hearing about this mentor-buddy-sweets-program-thing-y. Hanabusa and Andou agreed, and Kashino was being his usual sadistic self and said," Well, I suppose it could be worse. I just hope they aren't problematic. Of course, I'm glad I don't have to go to my home…" Ichigo and her team are together and strong as ever after the cake grand prix.(A/N: they are 15 years old). She came to Japan to visit the week before the holiday started, at Henri-sensei's request. Only later did she find out it was because of the metor-buddy-program-thing.

"Ichigo, you'll be mentoring a kid named Azuma Kazuma. He is really good at baking bread and has the legendary solar hands." Kashino read from an email they received from Henri sensei.

"Solar hands? What's that?" Hanabusa asked.

"Wait, lemme see." Kashino typed in "solar hands" in the search engine and clicked on the first link. "Someone who has solar hands have abnormally warm hands which are suited to make bread."

Andou interrupted, "That makes sense. I mean, bread needs to be in warm conditions to ferment."

"Andou sure knows a lot-desu!" Caramel was beaming with pride.

"I bet Kashino knew that! I mean, it's common knowledge!" Retorted Chocolat. Off to the side she sweat dropped and thought: I didn't know that, actually.

Ichigo laughed awkwardly and raised her hand and rubbed the back of her head and said, "Actually, I didn't know that."

All of them sweat-dropped. Andou-kun pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face and said," We learned it in out first year when we did a segment on bread."

Kashino made a really scary face and said," Apparently I didn't drill you hard enough. Lemme stamp all of out first year knowledge into your brain permanently!"

"Wahh! Save me from the devil!" Ichigo screamed as she ran away with Vanilla.


	2. A Friendly Game of Bowling

From the author: I don't own Yumeiro Patissiere or Yakitate Japan

General POV

Ichigo, Kahino, Andou, and Hanabusa waited at the bus top. It was Cafe-kun who spotted the bus first. "Hey, everyone! Look! It's the bus!" He shouted.

"Where? Oh, I see it! I'm so excited but kind of nervous-desu!" Caramel said. All the sweet spirits flew up to look.

Ichigo just thought of something and faced the rest of the group. "Ne, do you think they would be able to see sweet spirits?"

Kashino said, "I don't think so."

Hanabusa readied the candy roses he prepared. When Andou pointed out that all the people were guys, Hanabusa simply said, "A cute girl might accompany them." When Kashino pointed out that no cute girl would go so far to ride a train and bus just to see them off Hanabusa retorted," Well, this way I can show them my skill. And since I made five…Here you go, Ichigo-chan." With that, he handed Ichigo a rose. "

"Arigatou!" Ichigo cheerfully took the rose and took a big bite out of it, after all, she was used to his roses, and see them often. No need to stare at them again. "Oishi! (delicious)" She exclaimed just as the bus came to a halting stop. Azuma was the first to step out. He stretched, then spotting the A group, he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Azuma. Nice to meet you."

Hanabusa was all smiles. After all, this boy wore a headband, just like him. Not many other people can say the same. "Yep, nice to meet you."

"Oh! You're Azuma-kun right? I'm Ichigo. Nice to meet you too." Ichigo smiled sweetly at him.

"That was a long bus ride."Kawachi complained.

"Only a true idiot complains about admiring nature," mused Sawabara.

Andou put out his hand and introduced himself. Recognizing the name, Kanmuri stepped out of the bus and returned the handshake, introducing himself as well. "Hey, I'm Kanmuri." Like that, everyone introduced themselves and then they stood in an awkward silence.

"So….do you want to teach us some sweet-making skills now?" Kawachi broke the silence saying.

Kashino was about to talk when Ichigo piped up,"Ne, ne, let's go bowling!"

"Bowling?" Everyone but Kashino asked.

Kashino explained for Ichigo. "It makes sense. We could bond over bowling and get more comfortable with each other!"

Everyone soon understood and agreed, so they asked a teacher to drive them. Thankfully, the teacher said yes and off they were!

Off to the side Ichigo whispered to Kashino, "The idea was actually Vanilla's." And Vanilla gave them a wink.

In the bowling alley

" Ichigo, your pretty good," Andou said.

Ichigo made a small "heh,heh" laugh while rubbing the back of her head, saying," Not really….."

"She's right," Tadase said, "she's not _that_ good. She's just average. The only reason why you think she is that good is because you're terrible."

"Well, that's true," Andou said with laugh. Everybody stared at his consecutive score of zero. "It's quite amazing actually. How is it possible to miss the cones every single time? This must be some kind of record!" Kanmuri analyzed.

"Well, I did technically get a strike." Andou said with another laugh.

"In the other lane!" Suwabara said. Of course _Suwabara_ felt that way. He managed to get a strike every single time. Kanmuri gave him a look, saying: _don't overdo it_. Kawachi was also surprisingly good, but later he explained that as a kid, he didn't have much to play with, so he would take a round object and throw it at other things for fun.

Nobody else minded, though. And they kept on playing. The sweet spirited were playing under the hot, bright light. Ichigo and the rest of Group A didn't really pay attention to what, they just knew that they were doing some kind of improvised play using Ichigo's emergency M & M's as a prop.

"I'm gonna sit down and eat Azuma's bread! It smelled really good." Ichigo piped up.

Azuma informed, "Actually, it's Tsukino's bread. I just grabbed it on my way out." He sniffed it. "It smells just like Tsukino and Pantasia."

Ichigo perked up. "Pantasia? You go there often?"

"Actually, I work there. We four all do." Azuma told her.

"Oh, cool." Ichigo seemed calm. Suddenly, she yelled, "Really? You work in PANTASIA? That's so cool! I often spend a big chunk of my allowance in Pantasia, but it's worth it! The bread is really delicious!"

"Thanks," Azuma said for all four of the Pantasia employes. Andou, Hanabusa, and Kashino didn't look surprised at this news. Noting this, Ichigo asked in a surprised voice, "You guys knew they were from Pantasia? And you didn't tell me?"

"I did."Kashino said. A flashback came through his mind. They were on a bus, and while he informed the group, only Hanabusa and Andou were really listening. Ichigo was too busy sleeping while muttering, "creme puff, ichigo tart, eclair…..". "You were just sleeping."

Ichigo wasn't really satisfied, but her attention was quickly averted to a little boy loudly complaining, "I don't wanna! I don't wanna eat strawberries! There are so disgusting! All those little seeds!"

Everybody turned to stare, but Ichigo was the first to go over there. She looked around, snatched the M&M's, went to the food counter and talked to the cashier there, and went over to the boy. "Hey there, what's the matter? You don't like the strawberries?" Ichigo inquired. The little boy just noded.

"You know, my name is Ichigo, and it means strawberry. Strawberries are actually really delicious. See this." Ichigo commanded. She then took a toothpick (which she got from the cashier) and dipped it in the melted M&Ms. Then, she took a strawberry and made two downward slashes, two dots, one rectangle, and two zigzag lines inside the rectangle to form a scary face. Ichigo said," This is a bad monster, and you must get rid of bad monsters. So, you do this. Ahhh…" And she ate it. "Why don't you try."

"Okay," the boy reluctantly agreed. He slowly popped one in his mouth and chewed. His face suddenly became all sparkly and happy and he exclaimed, "Oishi!" Everybody was watching this, and the members of Pantasia were pretty impressed. Ichigo quickly drew faces on the rest of the strawberries and left. Azuma approached her, clasped his hand around hers, and stated, "I like you. Please take care of me!"

Ichigo replied in a smiling voice, "I like you too. Take care of me too, please."

As the rest of them watched them go, they all e thought just one thing: _Could it be that they were both so dense that they didn't think that as a love confession?_


	3. Mentors and Mentees

**~Kashino and Kawachi~**

Kawachi was trying to hide a yawn, but failed. Really. Hearing this Kashino drone on and on about chocolate is really boring. "Okay, so remember, the suitable temperature for milk chocolate and the temperature for white chocolate is different…."

Kawachi didn't understand the big deal. It was _chocolate_, for crying out loud! Just buy some chocolate from a store and melt it in a pot over boiling water. Easy! Yet here he was, forced to listen to Kashino talk about it. "Hey! Are you listening?" Kahino yelled.

Chocolat was fuming. She could tell that Kawachi wasn't interested in the lesson, and she hated him already. Not only did he have a weird hairdo—it was an Afro—he also had no respect for chocolate. Chocolate makes almost every sweet taste better (in her opinion), and is extremely difficult to get just right. Everything—the temperature, humidity, skill, and ingredients affected the taste and quality of the product. Chocolat would've poked him with her fork until he was crying for mercy if it weren't for Kashino, scrambling to physically hold her back. Maybe if Kawachi was paying attention, he would notice Kashino frequently slapping and grabbing what appeared to be thin air.

Not just Chocolat, Kashino was getting fed up as well. He was ready to just dump some chocolate over Kawachi's head. But, that would be a waste of chocolate. With two people and one spirit on their wits end, they continued with the lesson, with only sheer obligation and sense of duty keeping them from leaving or fighting.

**~Suwabura and Hanabusa~**

On the other hand, Suwabara and Hanabusa weren't faring much better. Suwabara was about to tear out his hair—Hanabusa's hair—and smash the candy roses with his fists and feet. Suwabara's roses were terrible, and Hanabusa's perfect roses were steadily produced, and that rubbed Suwabara in the wrong way. To make it even worse, Suwabara didn't even _like_ roses, or candy for that matter. Candy didn't taste _that_ good, stuck in your teeth, and gave you cavities. _Glorified sugar, that's what candy is_, Suwabara thought. But he had no choice but to continue with this class. His only incentive and line of sanity being Monica.

Hanabusa was totally unaware of his mentee's state. He was too busy admiring the roses he ever so lovingly produced with his hands. After listening to Café-kun's suggestion, Hanabusa decided to make different-colored roses, such as red, white, or blue/purple. _Maybe next time, I should make tulips,_ Hanabusa thought in a moment of absurdity.

**~Andou and Kanmuri~**

Luckily, Andou and Kanmuri were (at this moment) getting along. Kanmuri and Andou—being the "brains" of their separate groups—settled themselves in heated scholarly debate, and probably would've never gotten to the actually "sweets" part if not for Caramel's insistent "let's make some sweets now, Andou-desu".

**~Ichigo and Azuma~**

The group that worked together the best was by far Azuma and Ichigo. There happy-go-lucky personalities and enthusiasm for baking helped them click instantly. Azuma was a fast learner, and he already learned how to make multiple sweets. They steered clear of icing and other components and sweets that need to be cold, but other than that restriction, they tried to make a variety of yummy sweets.

Ichigo wrapped her hands around Azuma's to help pipe out more uniform cookies. Azuma was struck by how warm her hands were. Just like his. But that struck Azuma as extremely odd, for Ichigo baked sweets, where cold "blizzard" hand were sought after, and warm "solar" hands were not as welcomed. However, Azuma didn't dwell on the matter, and the duo finally put multiple trays of different shaped cookies in the oven.

After Ichigo closed the oven door, she sighed, and Azuma worriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well, after this, I have to do homework. I didn't even start on our homework for over the break. I'm a dunce at school-related work. Science scares me. French is a terror. And don't even get me started on math. Even science and French are better than _math_," Ichigo explained.

Azuma thought for a few seconds, and offered, "Well, I could help you with math. I'm really good at it. You should ask Kanmuri for help in science and French. He is a genius in Science. And I wouldn't be surprised if he knew French well, but you should ask."

"Oh thank you! Now devil Kashino won't have to tutor me!" Ichigo cheered.

Azuma tilted his head in a questioning way. "Kashino?...Devil?"

Ichigo looked sheepish. "Oops."

"A-MA-NO!" Kashino's angry voice shouted.

Ichigo sprinted away (once again) with Kashino at her heels, shouting, "Save me!" The sweet spirits, Andou, and Hanabusa just watched and laughed, betting how much time it would take for Kashino to catch Ichigo. The Pantasia group just looked at each other nervously, not sure if they should interfere or not.


	4. A Phone Call and Distressed Azuma

Kanmuri and Azuma shared a room (therefore Suwabara and Kawachi shared a room, which wasn't a very good idea, since old rivalry still courses through them). That day, they all had particularly pleasant learning sessions. At least, Suwabara only felt like smashing candy flowers for some, as opposed to all, of the time. And Kawachi was actually listening to Kashino 20 percent of the whole lecture. Kanmuri and Azuma got along with Andou and Ichigo fine before, so there was really no need for much improvement there.

Anyway, Kanmuri and Azuma got a phone call that night. To their surprise, it was from Manager. They _shouldn't_ be surprised—it was, after all, quite normal to hear from one's employer when on a "business" trip. However, Manager was that type of person who liked people to "build character" through experience—he'd probably dump you on a desert island in the middle of winter with nobody but your sworn enemy for companionship and not blink an eye.

Before the phone call, Manager and Tsukino were debating whether they should call and who should make the call. _They_ knew the ulterior motive of this mission—er, _business trip_—but they didn't want to tell them the news. It was sad to think that the foursome's carefree trip of pure learning and enjoyment was now to be tainted with a more—well, not so fun reason. In the end, Manager lost and they finally came to an agreement that it was now or never that they dial their number.

Manager's voice was slightly apologetic and was dripping with fake optimism, "Hey guys! How are you doing? I hope you're doing good. I'm just swell!" Then, after some scuffle (which was probably Tsukino hitting and urging Manager to get to the point), Manager changed his voice to a more serious tone. "Okay, I'm going to stop beating around the bush. We didn't just ask you to go to St. Marie for learning to make some sweets for our shop. There was another reason. The main reason we asked you to go was to recruit help."

Azuma and Kanmuri shared a look. The two boys were confused and didn't know what to make of the news. It didn't sound very important or serious, yet the tension in Manager's voice was palpable. Azuma repeated, "Recruit help? Like, asking people to work in Pantasia with us? I'm sure there are some students here willing to…."

Manager cleared his throat and continued, "Maybe I'm not being clear enough. We don't just want any person. We are here for a specific someone. This someone has solar hands."

The boys' mouths hang open in an "o" shape. Solar hands? In a _patissiere_ school? Azuma's mind flashed back to his first baking session with Ichigo. The warmth of her hands was abnormal, that's true. And that time in the bowling alley, when he held her hand. Manager's voice boomed, "This someone is Ichigo. Amano Ichigo. I believe she is your mentor Azuma. To become such a talented patissiere with solar hands, now that is impressive. Especially specializing in strawberry tarts."

Kanmuri then understood the reason for all the seriousness. This sweet, innocent girl with a passion for sweets discovers that she has these legendary solar hands, which are suited for making bread. In the world, there are about a mere nine hundred people with this special, God-given gift. It would be a real shame to not use it—this gift others would kill their own grandmothers for. Maybe a normal person would be able to me bread and sweets maker at the same time, but not special, shining people like Ichigo. Her talent in sweets making helps her overcome her natural disadvantage of having solar hands, and still lets her win in the Cake Grand Prix. However, in bread making, this disadvantage will instantly transform into an enormous _ad_vantage, plus her innate talent in baking, her potential is astronomical. What is at stake here is a gift and a passion.

Azuma was _still_ in the dark about this dilemma, and Kanmuri explained it to him. By then, Manager had hung up, and Azuma acted like he had _way_ too much sugar and caffeine before bed. Azuma stuttered, "But, but! You know! _Passion!_ What you _love_ doing! More important than _anything!_ But, _solar hands!_ We really need people with solar hands! If she says yes, Andou, Hanabusa, and devil—I mean, Kashino, would be heartbroken! I know! I could work twice as hard to make up for her! Yes! I could!"

Kanmuri didn't bother to correct him at this time. He decided sleeping on it would be the best course of action now. Soon after, Azuma was tired from ranting, and turned off the pillow to sleep as well.

Both boys got up early that morning, and Kanmuri concluded his jumble of thoughts from last night, "Really, we shouldn't be worrying over this. Ichigo should decide. Tonight, you're tutoring her in math and I'm helping her with science and French tomorrow. Andou has to help out with his family resturaunt, and I insisted on tutoring her. We could use these opportunities and ask her, one on one, so the others won't be there to influence her."

Azuma just nodded, and asked, "I wonder if the others know."

Kanmuri smacked his head. How could he have forgotten this point! If Kawachi and Suwabara knew, this would be easier. Four people is better than two people, at least. Azuma also brought up another, less vital but more thought-provoking question, "How does Manager know she has solar hands?"

At their learning sessions, Ichigo noticed that Azuma acted oddly. "Is anything wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"What? Why would anything be wrong? There is nothing wrong with me! Absolutely nothing!" Azuma exclaims, sweat forming on his face. Ichigo got kind of suspicious, but decided to let it go. After all, it wasn't like it could be anything _that_ big, right?

Wrong! This Ichigo discovered during their math session. Azuma's behavior almost made her wish she asked Kashino to tutor her instead. Azuma kept on starting sentences he would never finish, and his nervousness really started to worry her. Vanilla was also affected. Vanilla whispered, "Don't you think Azuma is a bit, _fidgety_ today?"

Ichigo nodded, slightly so Azuma wouldn't notice. She was afraid Azuma would jump if she made a sudden, jerky movement. "What's wrong?" Ichigo asked again. Math could wait. Azuma basically already finished the whole worksheet for her anyway. She would just stare at it later until it made sense.

"Okay. The truth is….." Azuma started but (once again) didn't finish.

Ichigo sincerely urged, "Tell me! I will help you!"

Azuma gave in. "The truth is that you have, um, you know, solar hands."

He whispered the last part. And when Ichigo asked for him to say it again, Azuma almost fainted. "Solar hands!" Azuma said unnecessarily loud. "You have solar hands!"

Ichigo blinked once. Then twice. She looked at Vanilla, whose mask of indifference mirrored her own. "Yay, I suppose. It is supposed to be really rare and good for making bread, right? You have it too, I heard." She carefully said. She still didn't understand why Azuma would worry about telling her this news so much.

Unable to hold his feeling of injustice for this whole situation, he blurted, "You don't understand, do you!" And promptly burst into tears. It didn't take much to bring Azuma to tears—after all, Kawachi's fake sob story did the same. He explained why this was so said and injust, and Ichigo said matter-of-factly while smiling, "Well, I could just do both!"

"But you can't! You have to give 110 percent of all you've got into either one! For someone who has as much talent as you, to treat either field half-heartedly would be so wasteful!" Azuma exclaimed.

Ichigo just made a fist and pounded herself, confidently saying, "I could do it! I would focus on making sweets, of course, but during the summer and vacation I could work at Pantasia."

Azuma had thought of this before, but after hearing Ichigo put it that way…..Maybe it could work. After all, they already had Azuma and Kanmuri with solar hands, and others could acquire solar gauntlets like Manager, Kawachi, and Suwabara. He'd have to discuss this solution to Kanmuri and Manager. Azuma sniffed and said, "You're right. I think that should work."

He thought of adding "thanks for cheering me up", but that seemed inappropriate since it was really Ichigo's problem. Azuma just smiled and said, "Now, want to get back to those math problems?"

Ichigo nodded and smiled back, glad that her friend was back to normal. Vanilla, on the other hand, blinked worriedly at her spoon. Was it just her, or did her spoon's pink symbol just fade into a dull gray for a second?


End file.
